... can partially be discussed, despite a sign at the airport warning us not to!

Having visited 8 pubs during previous trips, and with the usual churn of brewpubs in any state, we contemplated what it would take to finish off the state, when we went back to Vegas for Laurie's son's wedding. (More on that from Laurie). There are various lists for brewpubs around the web, but some research and phone calls, etc. lead us to believe that the current total was 16, so we needed 4 more pubs to finish another state.

(Big Dog has a few places that sell their beer and Gordon Biersch has 1 as well, so if you go, make sure you go the the right locations)

We looked at what we had already visited in Las Vegas and saw that, bingo! 4 pubs had yet to be visited. So, even though this was a family outing, we discussed our plans with the family members, and they essentially said "Go for it!" We therefore left the airport Thursday, and since it was raining, we took a taxi ($25.00 for 5 miles! ) to Barley's on the SE side of town. This was a decent place, right inside a full-fledged casino. We had some good food and beers and then decided on a 'quick' ride on a bus back to the Stratosphere, our base of operations for the weekend. 2 hours later, the 3rd bus dropped us off, after a tortured, twisting series of rides through a good bit on the underside of the city!

We then decided to hit two pubs that were close by the hotel. Not being thrilled with the buses, we again opted for quick but expensive taxi rides to Gordon Biersch and Ellis Island. G.B. has a large variety of mostly German style beers. I did find the Heff to be very tasty, along with a decent dark beer. The food was also very good. Ellis Island is one of those places in Las Vegas that just amazes you! It is in a slightly seedy section of town, (the cabbie warned us not to walk around), and the place looks like a typical off-strip small-time casino and bar. But the beer was brewed right there, and during NFL games, was $1.00 for a 20 oz. mug!!! And it was good beer! We had an IPA and a Stout. I then sat down and played Blackjack and won more than enough to pay for the exorbitant taxi rides! The food prices in this place are also insanely cheap. Laurie's son knew someone who used to work here,and they said you could get a beer, and a great steak for $8.00!

The next morning we set off for Big Dog, to finish the quest. It's on the far NW side of town, but since the bus went right to the place, we decided to give mass transportation another try. The bus system worked perfectly this time, albeit a tad slow. But you can't complain about the price, which was now free, after we had purchased 24-hour passes the day before. We arrived just about Noon, and immediately we could tell they had a great sense of humor. There is a huge statue of a dog outside the building, along with twin outhouses, labeled "Pointers" and "Setters". Inside, there are numerous slogans and visual puns, (0 to horny in 2.5 beers, if you're not the lead dog, the view never changes ) along with beer names such as "Leg Lifter Lager", "Fire Hydrant Red", "War Dog IPA", etc. They actually had 2 different IPAs, very West-coast, and a "Chocolate Lab Porter", all of which were very good. This place (and Barley's) 'comped' us for gambling, so we ended up with 6 free beers during our travels!

Overall, Nevada has a lot of great brewpubs, and if you like hiking and gambling, this is a great place to visit.

Wow! Great Job on finishing up another state! I've been wanting to go out to Vegas for a couple years now after many friends great trips there. Sounds like you and Laurie had a great time out there as well. Not a gambler at all. I'm 32 and have never bought a scratcher(I think that's what gamblers call them) I am very interested in the brewpub parts though.

A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.

OMG another person who has never purchased a lottery ticket? I thought I was the only one left on the planet! I did succumb to some gambling on this third trip because if you want to get comped a beer, you must be playing. I played with $10, ran it up to $19.75, then lost the 10! So I was right not to gamble - basically I paid $10 for two beers and they were very tasty!

The pub stops were all fun and some really good beers. We had to pull ourselves out of Big Dog or we would have been to sh$% faced to attend the wedding! Really good food there as well as a connection to Wisconsin that we should investigate - lots of Packers memorabilia and a great sense of humor indeed!

The hiking side of these trips was our walking the strip, and walking the strip, and walking the strip - interesting views when you do so - all kinds of things can be seen in Vegas - complete with some mountains in the background that truly are worthy of hiking - we just did not have the time on this trip.

The wedding was perfect - they were such a good looking couple, people were taking their picture all over the place. The pink hummer limo, a surprise to the bride came with a great driver Adam, who stopped and picked us up some beer for the ride to the wedding, the ceremony finished, they kissed and the fountains started flowing right on time in front of the Bellagio where it took place, then we went to Coyote Ugly where the newly married couple had to perform a few tricks for the crowd, the bride led a conga line around the place and danced on the bar, then up to Toby Keith's place, then the top of the Statosphere where some in the wedding party took a sky ride at 1am in their dresses in the cold, lots of fun and romance, little sleep, and the grand finale ---- as we waited for our cab to take us to the airport, we had one last drink with the kids at the hotel and the pa system played our wedding song at that moment, and Tom asked me to dance and so with more tears and smiles, we danced our way out of Vegas and home!

I'm glad you guys had a great time in Vegas Laurie. The Big Dog sounds like a lot of fun. Good job on having the will power to drag yourselves out of the there, lol. The only time I've gambled was when I flew out to Wisconsin to visit a friend and she wanted to go to a casino just across the state border in Minnisota. The casino gave me $20 to play with on a card since it was my birthday month and within a very short time I had lost the money and I was severely bored and wanted to go. Hopefully we can get out that way soon. I hear there is so much more to do out in Vegas then just gambling. You guys have showed me that there is also plenty of brewpubs to visit. Good job and Congrats on both the Nevada finish and on your sons marriage.

A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.